


to soak in

by somehowunbroken



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Flirting, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-09 17:42:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20501444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somehowunbroken/pseuds/somehowunbroken
Summary: Alexander's in Toronto now, which means his favourite tea from Denver isn't readily available to him anymore. JT... helps.





	to soak in

**Author's Note:**

> -i love tea and i love alexander kerfoot, and sometimes i remember that those two things are related and i cry about it
> 
> -title is a definition of "steep" and also refers to what you do when you experience something you like. see what i did there??
> 
> -written, edited, and posted in like four hours. i daren't inflict this nonsense on a beta. sorry in advance.

It's an offhanded comment, something Alexander slips into conversation because it's on his mind instead of something he plans to say. "I miss that tea," he says, phone tucked between his shoulder and his ear as he opens up the tea cabinet in his new apartment. The whole place is too clean in a way that has nothing to do with how recently it's been swept; he'll settle into it, he knows, but for now, Alexander feels like a guest in someone else's space.

JT snorts, and Alexander doesn't have to imagine very hard to see him rolling his eyes. "Which tea?"

"The mint one," Alexander says, scowling at the four different boxes of Sleepytime in the cabinet and grabbing the box of ginger peach mostly so he doesn't have to scowl at the Sleepytime any longer, "Remember the one I drove all the way out to Stanley to get?"

"Oh, _that_ tea," JT says. "The pilgrimage tea."

"It was worth it," Alexander says, just as he had every time JT or Tyson had teased him about driving almost an hour out of his way just to pick up his favourite blend. He sighs as he unwraps his tea bag and sets it in a mug. "I guess I'll have to find a new favourite now that I'm here."

JT's quiet on the other end of the line for a moment, and then he sighs. "Well, you can get someone to blend all the mint together for you and try that," he says after a moment. "You and your mint tea."

"Ask me how many boxes of Sleepytime I have right now," Alexander says darkly, glaring at his cabinet as he pours hot water into the mug.

"Too many," JT says instantly. "It's because we lived in Boulder. You know that, right? Celestial Seasonings is based in Boulder, so people got you Boulder tea."

"And, what, I look like I haven't been getting enough sleep?" Alexander asks.

"I mean," JT starts, and it's easy to hear the grin in his voice. "Look, give it to Brutes. He'll drink it and then zonk out on every plane ride you guys have this season."

"You're not wrong," Alexander says. He's not setting a timer but he sort of wants to; this tea is gross if it oversteeps, but he's pretty sure he can mentally time it well enough. He grabs his mug and heads for the living room, shoving himself into one corner of the sofa and looking towards the television. That way, he doesn't have to look at the other end of the sofa, where JT's not glaring at his phone and Tyson isn't sprawled out just to see how much space he can take up.

"Hey," JT says. "That tea, what was it called?"

"Razzle Mint," Alexander says. "Why?"

JT snorts. "I knew it was something dumb, but I couldn't remember exactly what," he says. "Razzle Mint. Wow."

"It was delicious," Alexander defends. "Colin likes it!"

"Colin is a hippie," JT says patiently. "Colin liking something doesn't mean it's good, it just means that he can't taste any pesticides."

"I mean, that's good," Alexander points out.

JT laughs. "Tell me about training camp," he says. "I've got some rookie shit you won't believe, but tell me about yours first."

"No, no, tell me about the rookie shit," Alexander says, grinning as he sips at his tea. "I can't wait to hear it."

-0-

It's the day before preseason starts, and Alexander is a familiar combination of exhausted and exhilarated about the season stretching out in front of him. He's very much looking forward to a nap, too, which is why he winces internally when the desk clerk calls his name as he walks into the building.

"We have a package for you," the woman says, smiling at him. "Give me just a second and I'll get it from the room."

"Thanks," he says, smiling back and wracking his brain for her name. He knows it and he _knows_ that he knows it, but he's drawing a blank. He sighs as she emerges from the back, package in hand. "I'm so sorry, but I can't remember your name for the life of me."

"Chelsea," she says, laughing as she hands it over. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Kerfoot."

"Oh, god, no," he says, horrified. "That makes me feel like an investment banker. Please don't tell me I look like an investment banker."

"When you start leaving in suits for your games, you might," Chelsea says, shrugging. She grins at whatever expression is on his face. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

"Thanks," he says, sighing as he takes a step back. "I'll try to be less… like this, sorry."

She laughs and waves, and Alexander turns and heads for the elevator. He waits until he's inside to actually look at the package; it's wrapped in brown paper and it's hand-addressed, and he'd sort of thought his mom had sent him something, but it's postmarked from Denver. The longer he looks at it, the more the chicken scratch reading _AlexanderKerfoot_—no space—looks like JT's handwriting.

He lets himself into his apartment, then pulls out his phone, calling the last number in his recent calls list. "Did you send me a package?" he asks when JT picks up.

JT snorts. "Did you get a package and immediately call me instead of opening it up to see if there was a card inside?"

"Is there a card inside?" Alexander asks.

"I mean, no," JT says. "But there's a Post-It note. That's kind of the same."

Alexander laughs and heads into the kitchen, grabbing the scissors from the knife block so he can slice through the tape. "What did you even send me? The customs tag just says—oh."

"If it says 'oh,' I'm setting Josty's favourite hair gel on fire," JT mutters. "He told me he filled it out right."

"No, it says 'food,'" Alexander says, peeling the paper all the way off of the package. "Is this tea? Did you send me tea?"

"Read the note," JT says. "It's bright orange. It shouldn't be hard to find."

Alexander drops the paper to the counter and finds the bright orange Post-It note stuck to the bottom of the tea. _I was over by Stanley,_ it says. _I don't know how long tea lasts you, but the lady said this should be good for a while._

He laughs. "A while," he says, setting the note down and picking the tea up. "This will last me until, like, November, and that's if I don't drink any other tea between now and then."

"I told her you really liked it," JT says. "Although that explains why she told me I shouldn't just buy all of it and send it to you."

"All of it," Alexander echoes, laughing. He picks up the tea and pulls the bag open, and sure enough, the sweet minty scent hits him like the homesickness hasn't had the chance to yet. "I can't believe you went all the way out to Stanley to buy me tea."

"I can't believe you made that drive on purpose every few weeks to get it," JT shoots back. "I was over there with my rookie. He didn't believe me about Denver Biscuit."

"And you went to the one at Stanley instead of the one downtown because…" Alexander says, raising an eyebrow and hoping JT can hear it.

"Because it's not worth the line at the one in LoDo," JT says flatly.

Alexander snorts. "You could just say you wanted to do something nice," he says, and his voice is way softer than he meant for it to be. "I really appreciate it, JT. Thank you."

"You're welcome," JT says gruffly. "I'm just taking him to the one downtown next time, though. Oh my god, the traffic on 70 was unbearable."

"Take 6th over," Alexander says, amused. "Why did you think the traffic on 70 wouldn't be terrible?"

"Oh, man, let me tell you about Calvy's new car," JT says, and it's not an especially subtle subject change, but JT came dangerously close to admitting he had an emotion, so Alexander's going to let him have this one.

-0-

Alexander gets a tin from the tea shop a few blocks from his place in Toronto and sets the Razzle Mint on his counter, right next to his electric kettle. He doesn't really ration it out; JT had sent an entire pound of tea, and Alexander figures he can grab some more when the Leafs visit Denver if he starts running low by then.

He's not expecting Chelsea to flag him down about two weeks after the tea arrived, but as he's walking into his building the first day of the season, she calls him over. "Give me just a second," she says, disappearing into the back room again, coming out with another package wrapped in brown paper and handing it over. It's got JT's handwriting on it again, and Alexander smiles at the package before looking back up.

"Thanks, Chelsea," he says, heading for the elevator.

"Good luck against the Sens," Chelsea calls after him.

Alexander waves as he walks into the elevator, and he doesn't wait for the doors to close all the way before tearing into the package. It's smaller than the first one, and the Post-It note this time is bright yellow. _Saw this while we were in Minnesota and decided you needed it._

The package isn't labelled, but when Alexander opens it and takes a careful sniff, he's almost bowled over by how strongly it smells of maple syrup. It's not something he would have picked out for himself, but he's pretty sure that if he mixes it with some plain black tea, it'll be decent.

He snaps a photo of it and sends it to JT when he gets in his apartment. _Maple? Really?_

_It's called Canadian Breakfast Tea,_ JT replies almost instantly. _Colin said you didn't drink a lot of really sweet tea, so I got less this time._

_Thank you,_ Alexander sends back, because otherwise he's going to say something like _I miss you, too_, and they're not—

They're friends, he and JT. They were roommates, and they were close, and it would probably be fine if Alexander said that he missed JT, but he doesn't miss JT in the same way he misses Tyson and Colin and EJ, and he doesn't think he wants to hear JT say _miss you too, bro_ the way he probably has to Brutes.

-0-

The start of the season feels remarkably similar to the way the start of the school year always had; Alexander's excited, but he knows how far there is to go, and he knows that giving his all now means he won't have anything left by the time the end rolls around, whether it's finals or the Finals.

He's got a Starbucks cup in hand as he walks into his building, and he waves at Chelsea as he pulls a sip of their too-sweet passionfruit tea blend into his mouth.

"Alexander," Chelsea calls, waving him over, and JT hadn't mentioned sending anything, but Alexander isn't surprised when she emerges from the back room with another brown paper package. "You should just check in with me every week or two, huh?"

Alexander laughs and takes the package. "Apparently."

"Nice goal the other night," she adds. "We were watching from the nosebleeds, but it was still easy to see how pretty it was."

"You were there?" Alexander asks, leaning on the table. "I didn't realise you were that much of a fan."

"This is Toronto," Chelsea says, sounding amused. "My wife and I try to go a few times a year, when we can get a babysitter. We have a six-year-old."

Alexander smiles. "Do you have a photo?"

Chelsea's face splits into a wide grin as she pulls her phone out. "I have so many," she says, laughing. "I'll warn you now that his name is also Alexander, although we call him Alex, and you're currently his favourite."

"Name twins," Alexander says solemnly, nodding as she shows him a few photos of her and another woman around her age with a small blond boy. "I'll bring you something for him the next time I come home from the rink."

"Oh, that's," Chelsea says, smiling. "That would be very nice, but it's totally not necessary."

"Name twins," Alexander repeats, grabbing his new tea and smiling at Chelsea. "It's the least I can do."

"Well, thanks," Chelsea says as Alexander calls the elevator. "He'll lose his mind, I'm sure."

Alexander laughs as he walks in, already pulling the paper from the package. The blue Post-It note says _This made me think of you in DC_ on it, and Alexander opens it up and smells something heavy and spicy. He's immediately reminded of the holidays, of nights on the sofa under the blanket that lived on the back, and he takes another long sniff of it as the elevator climbs.

_What flavour is this?_ he sends with a photo of the open bag as the elevator door slides open.

His phone buzzes as he's opening his door. _The guy behind the counter said it's their special chai blend,_ JT says. _Not gonna lie, I tried a mug of that one, and holy shit it's good._

_It smells incredible,_ Alexander sends. He hesitates, then asks, _How'd you try it? This is loose leaf, and all the tea stuff moved with me._

_Z found out I was buying tea and got me this thing,_ he gets back a moment later, along with a photo of a little whale with a tea basket attached to its bottom.

Alexander snorts. _Oh my god, a tea whale._

_He's very proud of himself,_ JT replies, along with a photo of half of his face, grin evident even though Alexander can only see the tops of his cheeks.

Alexander isn't sure what it says about him that he can tell anyway.

-0-

"Alex loves the puck and the hat," Chelsea says as she flags him down again. "Trish and I keep having to take the hat out of bed with him, actually, because he refuses to go to sleep without it on, and we're afraid he's going to squash it in his sleep."

Alexander laughs. "There are more where that came from," he promises. "If it gets messed up beyond repair, just let me know."

"I will," Chelsea promises. "Let me get your package."

Alexander's looking forward to opening it, he finds as Chelsea returns with the new tea delivery. She laughs as she hands it over. "Do you have a subscription for something from Denver?" she asks.

"Oh, no," Alexander says, not sure how to explain the tea thing. To himself or Chelsea, if he's being honest about it.

"Then someone in Denver must love you, to keep sending international packages," she says, grinning at him. "I'll keep your secret, don't worry."

Alexander laughs, more startled than anything else, and heads for the elevator. His mind is turning the words over and over in his head as it climbs, stopping on his floor and letting him out no closer to an answer.

The tea, he finds when he's inside, is something sweet and floral. _Vegas,_ the purple Post-It note reads, and there's not much of a clue Alexander can draw from that.

-0-

_Chicago_, the green Post-It reads when Alexander opens the package. They've been on the road for a while, and they're only home for one game before heading back out on the road, but even with how busy Alexander has been, he knows where the Avs have been playing.

He calls JT before even opening the tea this time. "You haven't played in Chicago yet," he says when JT picks up.

JT pauses, and then there's a noise like he's exhaling loudly away from the speaker. "I had Morgan send it. She knows a tea place, and I asked her to get some of the one she likes and send it to me so I could send it to you. She said something about chocolate, so it might be on the sweet side."

Alexander opens the bag and inhales, and the tea smells deep and sweet, chocolate and vanilla and something vaguely spicy underneath it. "I'll try it," he promises. He wants to say more, wants to ask about the tea, about what Chelsea had said that he hasn't been able to get out of his head, but he can't make his mouth form the words. "So how's being neighbours with Josty?" he settles on, and when JT takes the distraction and starts rambling about Mario Kart, Alexander pulls a mug down and measures out some tea.

-0-

Alexander is… nervous, he decides as the plane touches down. There's the whole thing about playing his old team, sure, but more than that, he's got plans to meet up with some of the guys after, and he's got permission from Coach to skip curfew if he wants, given the circumstances and the fast that they don't fly out until the next afternoon.

"Hey," he hears, and he turns to see Tyson settling into the seat next to him. He's got an odd, tired smile on his face as he glances out the window. "This is super weird, right?"

Alexander laughs. "Yeah."

"It hasn't been bad," Tyson says quietly. "Don't tell Nate I said that."

"Don't tell JT I agree with you," Alexander replies.

Tyson grins. "What about Josty?"

"Oh, I tell Josty that all the time," Alexander says, and Tyson laughs.

"So," he says as they taxi down the runway. "Are you meeting up with JT?"

"I'm meeting up with whoever wants to go out after, same as you," Alexander says, glancing down at his hands.

Tyson sighs and jostles their shoulder together. "It's okay to want things, y'know," he says. "It's even okay to ask if you can have them most of the time."

Alexander turns to look at him, but already Tyson's standing and making his way back up the aisle to his seat, so Alexander is left alone with the words.

-0-

JT looks surprised when he opens the door. "Hey," he says, stepping back and gesturing inside. "I thought we were meeting at—"

"You keep sending me tea," Alexander cuts in. "My favourite tea, and tea that made you think of me, and one that your sister likes, and I—"

JT leans in and kisses him.

"I was hoping that was why," Alexander whispers when JT pulls back.

"I was hoping you'd pick up on it," JT replies just as quietly. "The next Post-It was going to be embarrassing, I think."

Alexander laughs. "I'd still like to see it."

"I have other things I can show you," JT says. "I have a tea whale, y'know. And Colin brought me to a tea store in the mall, so now I have a fancy tea thing that doesn't fall over and spill leaves into your tea while it's brewing."

"Very fancy," Alexander says, grinning at him. "Show me your tea."

JT's expression goes soft. "I, uh," he says, glancing towards his kitchen before looking back to Alexander. "I have new tea. For you, I mean."

Alexander reaches out and takes his hand, smiling when JT's cheeks go pink. "I'd love to share a mug with you."

JT's smile is better than knowing he's still got half a pound of Razzle Mint waiting for him in Toronto. "Yeah," he says, leading Alexander towards the kitchen. "I'd really like that, too."

**Author's Note:**

> -anyway i have feelings about tea and alexander kerfoot
> 
> please know that i'm calling myself out here wrt every single tea thing.  
-i keep giving boxes of sleepytime to people because i keep GETTING boxes of sleepytime and i don't wike it  
-the razzle mint tea from the hippie shop in stanley marketplace is real, as are my feelings on taking 70 to get from boulder to stanley  
-stash makes the ginger peach tea and it calms an upset stomach like i can't even describe  
-celestial seasonings IS headquartered in boulder and i HAVE been there and they DO let you tour the tea plant and i ABSOLUTELY want to move into the room they store the peppermint in, why do you ask  
-the tea whale is real, and yes it does tip over when you try to use it and yes it does occasionally leak bits of leaf into your tea but you know what he's adorable  
-i highly recommend the tea steeper i have! you put the tea and the hot water in all at once, and then when it's brewed you put the whole thing on the top of your mug and it drains down into it. it's excellent.
> 
> -sorry about getting very Denver Local in this, but also fuck the denver biscuit location in LoDo, i love denver biscuit but not THAT much
> 
> -follow me on twitter! let me know who you are, though, as i don't accept requests from random people :)


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